Light of the Dark

by N. Saraven

  “Well … nobody, since Halgor does whatever he does right now,” she replied with a cautious glance at him. She obviously could do with a little break.

  “Then we have to do that as well.” Agony sighed. “Is there something that is not clear?”

  “Er …”

  “By the Gods, girl,” snapped Talek. “What do you know about magic? You do live in a magical Tower, surrounded by mages, not to mention dragons.”

  “Well …” started Rita with a twist of her mouth. “I know that magic itself originates from the World’s Power. All the worlds are meshed by it, as energy-flows. These form a net, so we could say that they create one, whole unit. When a mage designs a spell, he uses words to get to the correct mind-set, so he can access these flows. Every spell needs a specific amount of energy, and the mage’s job is to take only what he needs from the energies, and to control it. The correct amount of energy then can be forged as the mage wishes, creating the actual magic. When several energy-flows collide, they create a crossing point, where no magic can be used, although I don’t understand why exactly. Near them, magic can be used, although they need much more concentration and energy from the mage. But they cannot be detected by any other mage.”

  “Right, right.” Talek nodded, although he seemed a little bit confused by the terms Rita used. She had a habit of using her usual words and phrases, some translated to common, some stayed as they were. Anyhow, they did not make much sense to the companions.

  “But there is something I don’t understand,” murmured Rita as she stared at the ceiling. “If everything is as I said so, then only those can use magic who are compatible with the World’s Power, can’t they?”

  “Say what now …?” asked the kobold.

  “Compatible. You know, somebody who can actually use these forces. Who can access them and they will not harm them.”

  “That’s correct, yes.”

  “So how can alien races just come here and live? Like the wraiths, or me, for that matter.”

  “Well, yes,” started the soldier, although his gaze seemed unsure about what he should talk here. “If a new species arrives, they must adapt. But I’ve no knowledge of cases when this couldn’t happen. When somebody perished because they weren’t … what word did you use?”

  “Compatible.”

  “So because they were not comb … a … tlble …”

  “Com-pa-ti-ble.”

  “Combapitle …” Talek just sighed, as Rita chuckled. “Never mind, so that. But it could happen, I guess. You know what? You should ask Enargit. I’ll bet he could answer, if he wants to. Anyhow, the main thing is, if the species had any special quality, they would be able to do that here as well. For example, the wraiths can have a spectral and a solid form. This they will be able to do here for sure. If they had magic from where they came from, I guess they can use ours as well, or at least can discover it easier. You know, you should ask Eryn about this, if you’re interested.”

  Rita just nodded. A short silence fell on the room.

  “And what do you know about the relations amid species?” asked Agony.

  “Everything that was in my books, of course.”

  Rita immediately bit her lower lip and wished she could retract her words. None of her friends took the subject lightly.

  “So?” asked Agony sternly.

  “Huh, alright. Let’s start with the Gods. There are four of them. There’s Yverion, God of the Seas and Weather; Arisha, who protects the animal world; Setal, the God of Plantlife and Good; and last but not least, Lexénia, Goddess of Evil, Death, and everything Bad. They’ve created the three worlds: the Nimron, the Caracen, and the Trian. It doesn’t come to mind which was the first. And I know nothing of Trian. Seriously, does anybody? There’s nothing of it anywhere. Anyhow, so there are humans, please let me leave them out of this; then there are kobolds, who have two races. The paragons, who love gems, ores, and everything that’s stone; the nomads, who do the same with wood. Oh, and of course the little ones, who live with the elvens and tend to the flowers.”

  Talek burst into laughter at this point, gaining a surprised look from Rita.

  “You really believed Silumar’s story about them? Please don’t be such a fool, girl. Nobody’ll take you seriously if you talk about them like they’re actually existing …”

  Rita glanced at him questioningly, but stayed silent. She remembered clearly the part when Silumar became lost, left behind by the companions, and he was found by a little kobold, who could fly.

  Rita sat up, leaning against the wall, as she thought further. It seemed that nobody knew about these kobolds, or at least nobody talked about them, although she could not work out why. Anyway, she let the matter go.

  “Oh yeah, I just remembered that you have wings.” Rita mused upon it a little while because she had never seen Talek show his before. She could imagine it from her books, but seeing them in real life would be different.

  However, the kobold showed no indication of ‘getting them out’, so Rita continued.

  “So, there are the elvens, who live on Nimron, in their Homeland which I cannot pronounce … Oh, I forgot before that the kobolds want to rule the Caracen. Sooo … and there are the werewolves, who also live on Caracen, in the Greylands, as a contrast to the Whitelands, which is occupied by humans. Between them lie the Ringed-mountains.” She took a deep breath, then continued. “If I know correctly, the wolves look like humans, only bigger, stronger, and have a tail. They are immune to magic; only the ones that cause physical injuries can hurt them, like fireballs and such. They have actual wolves as pets, which are just huge wolves …? I’ve never seen one, so I don’t really know, you know.”

  The ‘questioning’ took a long time. The friends bobbed their heads as Rita spoke. She knew seemingly everything important. She mentioned the conflicts between the wraiths and sunlit dragons, which the former started.

  Because of their nature, the wraiths needed vast amounts of lands, and the free ones ran out quickly after they arrived at Nimron. And instead of going out ‘into the wild’, charting the unknown terrain, they turned against their neighbours, the sunlit dragons. Rita also knew that the wraiths had a faster life-cycle than anybody else.

  She spoke about the werewolves’ aggression towards the Whitelands too.

  She knew all of the important things: the species, lands, Leaders, as if she were born here. Then would come the subtle things, which ‘cannot be known from mere books’, as Agony put it.

  “But something still bugs me,” mused Rita, suppressing a yawn. She was tired; Kira was already asleep in her bed.

  “And what would that be?” asked Talek as he finished his cup.

  “The common tongue. Whose is it originally, and why does everybody speak it?”

  “Not everybody, believe me,” answered the kobold, lowering his voice. “Why is this the common? My guess would be because it is the simplest. Didn’t you have something like this where you came from?”

  “Yeah, but I wouldn’t call it common. Not in this meaning anyway. I don’t know, maybe …”

  “Anyhow, not that many speak it. To my knowledge, most of the elvens do because they don’t have anything better to do, in my opinion. The paragons and nomads hardly know it; we don’t like to speak such a language that the humans do.” He could not hide the pure contempt in his voice when he spoke about humans. “The sunlits probably know it because they were in the mood to learn it. As far as I know, they speak both the elven and kobold languages too. As it turned out, the shadows cannot speak anything understandable. My main point is, it’s not as common as the name suggests.”

  “Hmm … interesting,” mumbled Rita, as she rubbed her eyes.

  A few moments later, the men said their goodbyes and left the girls to sleep.

  Two seasons came and went for the inhabitants of Varomor, who spent their time mostly studying. They did what they could under the command of Halgor, Enargit, or Eryn. Especially the latter, who became a fully acknowledge
d mage during that time, growing their number to thirteen in Varomor.

  The wraith surpassed the others by becoming the third in rank after the founding Masters, earning the right to act in their name in their absence. So now he oversaw everything the apprentices and mages did, keeping the order.

  Yet he stayed humble, as a wraith could be. He did not dream of more than he could get, never envied the tasks that the ‘great ones’, meaning the really strong mages, had to do. At the moment, that meant dealing with Neila.

  Only Enargit could go into her room; she even exiled Halgor to his little lair. But the shadow Leader gave the others enough information about her to become really worried.

  She completely cut off everybody, seemingly avoiding everything about her caste. The companions could count on one hand how many times she let them dine with her, and of those times, how many ended in fighting. The atmosphere in the Tower became unpleasant for most of them.

  On the other hand, after two seasons in silence, Neila summoned the others for a little chat, as she put it. So the friends started to worry and became excited at the same time. This meant that the mage finally came out from her shell, probably deciding how to rescue everybody under Indrek’s rule. At least, they hoped.

  Before Cameron left, or as the friends liked to refer to those times, BC, it was no question that Neila would help anyone in need.

  But a huge disappointment waited them.

  “Honestly, Agony,” started the Master sternly when the warrior asked how and when she planned to fight Indrek. “Why would we help? Did anybody ask for it? Was there any lament against Indrek?”

  The man left his mouth open in astonishment. Pure disbelief shone in his eyes, as in every other gaze also.

  “This does not mean that they don’t long for freedom,” murmured Veilon, who faintly blushed when the golden eyes settled on him. Seeing this, Talek swayed his head and finished his wine.

  “According to our spies, only one or two rebellious acts happened against Indrek and his army,” continued Neila with a calm yet terribly firm voice. Her golden eyes seemed to darken as she spoke, like when molten gold cools down. “Nobody raised a voice against the tyrant. For me, this means that they like what they got; it is good for them.”

  “But, but, but …” stammered Agony, albeit he had to admit, all of this was true. He too was present every time a spy came in with news. And he too was always surprised by how little the people wanted to do against Indrek.

  “If they like the happenings, why would I want to go to war against that cursed drake? Nobody will join us, nor help us, because they don’t seem to do anything. So why should we risk our lives to do so? When the citizens make a move, then I will consider. Until then, don’t bother me with this nonsense.”

  Neila obviously considered the matter closed because she turned her back on her friends, standing at the window, looking out to that strange forest. They did not even name those trees yet; everything was so different from what they knew. Nobody had any knowledge of where they lived. Rita mentioned something about a tropical rainforest, but she did not have the time to explain. Whatever that meant, it seemed to be just right, at least the ‘rainforest’ part—it rained a lot, and the air was warmer, causing high humidity.

  Neila loathed the weather. She changed her clothes to suit the atmosphere more. She freed her arms, and she made the material of her clothes as thin as comfortably possible. Furthermore, she changed her shoes for something less closed. She tied back her long hair, or braided it, letting her neck free.

  Because of the nature of the Tower, it let in the outside air, as if it could breathe. This way there was always fresh air in the building, as fresh as the outside was. Which in this strange land meant anything but that, at least Neila thought so.

  She mused upon the reports that the spies brought in. The creatures, and sometimes dragons, were coming and going as many times as they could, although the latter not so orderly as she would have liked. And of course, they were never sent into actual danger, like to Nightfort. Especially the younger ones created trouble, although she could not really blame them. They were as wild as those unknown creatures whom they saw slipping in the shades in the forest.

  Neila sighed as she heard the others chatting behind her. And these were the ‘soldiers’ with whom they had to work. Both Halgor and Veilon came back with the expected ‘no’, and the mage could not blame either party. They had their own problems; why would they join something that was not theirs? Neither of them seemed to be in imminent danger, so of course they wanted to be left out of a war.

  The Elven Homeland would never fall if Indrek could not gain some kind of unimaginable miracle. Indrek himself, as a cursed dragon, might have ancient power, but nobody else could say the same from his army. The shield which protected the elvens was created a long time ago using ancient spells which now were considered lost. Nobody could penetrate it so far.

  Neila knew about this even without Halgor saying so. Furthermore, the last wars, in which the elvens actually participated, reduced their numbers to a level that they could not afford any more deaths. They lived long, so children were scarcely born compared to other species. And the next generation needed time, a long time, to be considered adults. No wonder they preferred survival to helping humans; who, by the way, did not cry for help very loudly.

  The humans surrendered themselves on Nimron, albeit Neila could not work out why. On the other hand, they really seemed to have a real quality of life under the shadow dragon’s ruling. The shadow army, as they liked to call themselves, did not loot or kill, almost at all, so it was enough for the townsmen to trust. And Neila could understand this part …

  As for the kobolds, Veilon said at the very beginning that they did not want anything to do with this. Until Indrek threatened them, they cared nothing about this issue. Why should they? It was considered a miracle that Neila could convince the kobold to actually ask his advisers, who now controlled everything in his absence. Even if the dark mage felt sure that they would not change their minds.

  On the other hand, he did not complain too much either against this task, he just said it was more stupid than a fool’s errand.

  It seemed that the paragon became the only one who at least tried to stand up to Neila, albeit he was ‘defeated’ every single time so far—he who was the Ruler of the paragons, and informally of the nomads too; he who also controlled the sunlit dragons.

  The mage seemingly was so important that nobody knew how anybody could not miss his guidance after he decided to stay in Varomor. When he returned from the kobolds with the disappointing ‘no’, he never left again. Nobody dared to ask why.

  Anyhow, Neila last but not least asked Veilon what was with the sunlits. She did not really want anything from them, just felt concerned. Many of them were her friends back in the day. According to the paragon, they suffered extremely, both from the Dragonwars and the wraiths. The latter almost drew them into extinction. Only the Ruler gave them sanctuary, but now they had a chance to recover. Beyond this sad truth, however, Neila also knew that even if they wanted to help, they would not, until Veilon said so …

  So nobody left to help. Neila had no knowledge of the other mage castes, mainly because they were considered almost non-existent—another result of the Dragonwars. Although Neila believed that Veilon had them under control as well, or at least, he knew something about the remaining ones.

  Overall, the forces of Good seemed scarce—missing, hiding under rocks, it felt.

  On the other side, the evil Indrek could run wild, doing whatever, wherever he wanted. There were no limits to his doings. Yet he created a stable Empire, what seemed to take the road to thrive. On his side stood kobolds, elvens, and humans, facing dangers alongside werewolves and shadow dragons.

  The line between Good and Evil became blurry, when it was supposed to be as sharp as the difference between day and night.

  Neila argued with Agony on this subject, who wanted to go out, sword in his hand, sl
aughtering every ‘evil being’ on the way—freeing the people, as he liked to call it. But was it justifiable to do so? Should they interfere, when in the townsmen’s eyes, the Empire was a good thing …?

  As far as they in Varomor could tell, those peoples lived in peace and order, having a quality life for themselves. If they needed this kind of leadership, the ruthlessness of Indrek, how could they march in, shouting ‘we’re here to free you’? Probably the peoples would only snort, feeling insulted by the whole thing. Basically, their only problem could be the loss of their overestimated freedom.

  The companions usually could be silenced by these reasons, just like today, when Neila had to use them again.

  Veilon stepped beside Neila, looking at her absently. He gave her a cup of juice, which she took seemingly without any notice of what she was doing.

  The kobold also felt that change was coming. Until now, he too knew the difference between good and evil. But in the current situation he could not decide whom they should go up against if they wanted to fight.

  For him, for the kobolds, the waters would only be cleared when Indrek tried to bring them to their knees. Only then could they know who was their enemy. Furthermore, Veilon did not even know what he was still doing in Varomor. He should be back in the capital by now, ruling his subjects in the Kobold Empire.

  Kobold Empire, Nightfall Empire … why do they sound so alike …? he asked himself. Then a sharp pain struck his head, so he rubbed his eyes. He felt that he had just understood something very important, although a chill ran down his spine at this, so he shoved it quickly in a corner of his mind.

  Silence fell on the study. The companions sat or stood in their place, musing upon the situation and about what they could do. Agony mostly stewed in anger, most probably trying to find an error in Neila’s reasoning. Rita and Kira only sat out of sight, trying not to be in the way by any meaning.

  After a little while, Neila left the room without saying anything or glancing at anybody.